‘The Protester’ named Time person of the year

TIME magazine has named the collective “protester” around the world as its person of the year, citing the change brought by street demonstrations from Arab countries to New York.

The shared honour for protesters beat the traditional individual contenders, who included Admiral William McCraven, commander of the US mission to kill al-Qaida founder Osama bin Laden.

“There’s this contagion of protest,” managing editor Richard Stengel said on NBC television.

“These are folks who are changing history already and they will change history in the future.”

The magazine features a cover photo of a female Arab protester.

Last year, the magazine picked Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, whose competitors included another 21st century communications guru, WikiLeaks maestro Julian Assange.

This time, the list centred on heavyweight political figures such as McRaven, Chinese dissident Ai Weiwei, and influential Republican Congressman Paul Ryan.

There were also an emotional nod for Kate Middleton, who was credited for putting a spring back in the British monarchy’s step with her wedding to Prince William.

“Admiral McCraven captured bin Laden and [Middleton] captured our hearts. They represent people who affected us in one way or another who swayed the conversation — captured our imagination,” Stengel said.

However, in the end, the selection committee was unanimous on backing street protesters: “the men and women around the world, particularly in the Middle East, who toppled governments, who brought democracy and dignity to people who hadn’t had it before,” Stengel said.

Referring to the North African popular revolts, he said: “We thought ‘these dictators are not going to be toppled’. And then these people who risked their lives, risked their livelihoods to go out there and brought about change that nobody had expected.

“It really is a transformational thing and I think it is changing the world for the better,” Stengel said.

“Is there a global tipping point for frustration? Everywhere, it seems, people said they’d had enough.”

“They dissented; they demanded; they did not despair, even when the answers came back in a cloud of tear gas or a hail of bullets. They literally embodied the idea that individual action can bring collective, colossal change,” he said.

On almost every continent, 2011 has seen an almost unprecedented rise in both peaceful and sometimes violent unrest and dissent.

Protesters in a lengthening list of countries including Israel, India, Chile, China, Britain, Spain and now the United States all increasingly link their actions explicitly to the popular revolutions that have shaken up the Middle East.

Time’s ‘person of the year’ is the person or thing that has most influenced the culture and the news during the past year for good or for ill. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke received the honour in 2009. The 2008 winner was then-president-elect Barack Obama. Other previous winners have included Bono, president George W Bush, and Amazon.com chief executive and founder Jeff Bezos.

Time said it is recognising protesters because they are “redefining people power” around the world.